The course discusses two of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies – As You Like It and Twelfth Night – as well as The Roaring Girl, a play by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker. All three plays feature long episodes of female-to-male crossdressing. The course introduces students to Shakespeare’s work and to the conventions of early modern theatre. The poetological and social functions of crossdressing will be at the center of our attempt to theorize and historicize this theatrical practice. While gender and sexuality are key to understanding crossdressing as an early modern theatrical practice, we will also look more broadly at the problem of social belonging and representation at a time of socio-economic transformation.
In the Lektürekurs, we concentrate on another play that involves crossdressing: Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
Please buy the latest Arden Shakespeare editions of Shakespeare’s plays and the New Mermaids edition of The Roaring Girl. |
